Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is it really possible to have a cookie recipe that doesn't call for any sugar or butter but still produces cookies just as sweet and delicious as the ones you're normally used to eating? Well, not only are these treats incredibly easy to make -- even for moms that rarely bake -- they're nutritious and tons of fun for kids to get involved in making. The dates and bananas add a rich sweetness to every bite and the toasty oats give these cookies a crispy texture. And if you prefer bars to cookies, it's easy to convert this recipe.

When I whipped these up with Kenya last week, he totally got into it by helping me smash the bananas, toss the remaining ingredients into the mixing bowl and then by trying to eat as much of the dough as possible before it hit the cookie sheet. Since there are no eggs in this recipe, I didn't worry about letting him chow away. After all, you only get to be a kid once and eating cookie dough is part of the fun of baking!

PS You have to freeze a few of these. The kids go crazy for them right out of the freezer!

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Catherine McCordCatherine McCord

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies(Makes 30 Cookies)

Prep Time: 15 mins,(PT15M)

Cook Time: 25 mins,(PT25M)

Rating:

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Is it really possible to have a cookie recipe that doesn't call for any sugar or butter but still produces cookies just as sweet and delicious as the ones you're normally used to eating? Well, not only are these treats incredibly easy to make -- even...

Ingredients

3bananas (preferably ripe or spotty bananas)

2 cupsold fashioned oats

1 cuppitted and chopped dried dates

1/4 cupoil

1/2 teaspooncinnamon

1/2 cupchocolate chips, walnuts or raisins

1/4 teaspoonsalt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mash bananas in a bowl, and mix in the remaining ingredients.

3. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.

4. Using a mini ice cream scoop or tablespoon, place the batter onto a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet.

4. Bake for 25 Minutes.

5. Cool and serve.

** To make into bars – place dough in a greased 7×11 dish, bake for 35-40 minutes then allow to cool. Cut into bars or squares.

To Freeze: allow cookies to cool after baking then place in a Ziploc bag, label and freeze for up to 3 months.

Nada Faddoul

September 10, 2014 at 12:00 pm

Piera

April 17, 2014 at 4:00 pm

Delicious! I substitute dates for raisins since that’s what I generally have around the house and add some walnuts. It’s a perfect crunch texture and flavor to these delicious cookies. They never last long in my house!! Perfect as a weekday cookies.

October 4, 2013 at 1:05 pm

kateashford

September 17, 2013 at 2:02 pm

So you keep them in the fridge, not out on the counter? (Any particular reason why?) And when you freeze them, do you just let them come to room temp before giving to kiddos? Mine are baking right now and smell delicious!

Carol Gravlin

August 25, 2013 at 8:29 am

Laura

July 19, 2013 at 11:42 am

Just made this, minus the dates. They were simple, fast, and delicious. Made them into squares, using an 8×8 pan. Kids (ages 11 & 9) are requesting them for upcoming school year. They are excited about making different variations! Even my diabetic mother in law can have these!

Rebecca

June 24, 2013 at 10:39 pm

Mary

June 10, 2013 at 1:08 am

Marguerite Watkins

February 26, 2013 at 5:40 pm

This recipe looks delicious. My son has just gone gluten free so I’m in search of great recipes. I’m getting oats from Bob’s Red Mill because they are packaged in a gluten free facility so they are free of contaminants.

madiha

February 25, 2013 at 9:37 pm

Catherine, I absolutely LOVE your cookbook and the recipes on your website:) they are super easy to make and my family and I love the taste! I made these cookies today and they were gone by the end of the day! Even my 13 month old twins loved them:). Question though, my cookies didnot seem to stick too well together( the batter felt loose). Is that how they are meant to be ( they tasted delicious btw), or was it because i may hav used an extra half of a banana?

Enne

February 21, 2013 at 1:13 pm

I vote for the cucumber cream cheese sammiches & made them today for my daughter. My 2 other FAV videos are the spaghetti pie & breakfast cookies. thanks so much for all your recipes! I have a very picky eater at home, but whatever I try from this website, he loves and gobbles it up!

robbinsj76

October 21, 2012 at 4:47 pm

Theresa

October 4, 2012 at 6:15 pm

Does the recipe mean 1 cup dates (then chop them) or 1 cup of chopped up dates. I’m hoping that makes sense. I’m thinking it would be a completely different amount depending on which measuring method a person used.

catherine

October 4, 2012 at 6:46 pm

Theresa

October 4, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Kelsey

September 23, 2012 at 8:56 pm

Shoot… I bought Rolled Oats because they said they were “Rolled Old Fashioned Oats.” Not sure how long I should cook them?? I already made the batter haha, so I guess I’ll just keep an eyes on them and hope for the best.

catherine

September 24, 2012 at 11:36 am

Jessica H

September 19, 2012 at 5:51 pm

Yum! Delicious!!! Just out of the oven and they are sweet and tasty. I could try using fewer choc chips less time. I used mini chips so they are spread out well. My kitchen smelled amazing-like banana bread. Mine were cooked in a little less than 25 min. Will be freezing a few as suggested! Thanks!

Christina

September 12, 2012 at 10:20 pm

We’re not fans of dates in our house either so I boiled the dates down to almost a sauce – I boiled them in just a little water and then mashed them – then I cooled them down before adding them to the cookies. It worked really well – no date chunks and still with the sweet goodness they provide!

August 23, 2012 at 11:00 am

I just made these with dried plums (because that’s what I had at home) and they are delicious. I did add 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar because I was afraid it wouldn’t be sweet enough (my family just switched to a healthier diet, so unfortunately my kids are used to very sweet cookies). Next time I’ll try with no brown sugar and applesauce instead of oil.
Thank you so much for the recipe.

August 23, 2012 at 6:03 pm

August 18, 2012 at 10:02 am

I made these last night and the second batch in the oven turned out great, my first batch got a little burned as we need a new oven soon it burns everything. So I don’t keep them in as long but man my very picky 5 year old loved these and will be sending them in her lunch when she starts kindergarten in 3 weeks. Thank you these are great

mircat

August 10, 2012 at 8:09 am

Yet another Weelicious WIN! Made these for breakfast this morning, and at the last minute, my husband wandered by and popped a fresh blueberry onto the top of a few, just before they went into the oven. Yum! I think he may have incurred a slight hot-cookie injury when he jumped all over them the minute they were done. And oh yes, our son likes them, too

Kirstin

July 31, 2012 at 11:11 am

July 30, 2012 at 7:56 am

I thought these were really yummy! My first experience ever using/eating dates. The 5-yr hasn’t gotten up the courage to try them yet. After reading other comments, may try subbing dried strawberries for the dates – that might go over better. I put the leftovers in a ziploc and did notice they got really soft and crumbly in the bag over night.

Jennifer

April 12, 2012 at 6:44 pm

Amy RHN

February 8, 2012 at 8:40 pm

Absolutely love this recipe! It’s my go to treat every now and again and one that I recommend to my clients as a healthier cookie. Just a heads up that when you use the search engine on your website to locate this lovely cookie it does not come up when you use the words “banana”, “chocolate chip” or “cookie” so can be hard to find.

Megan

May 21, 2013 at 2:09 pm

oh yeah I’ve also found the search engine could use some improvement–I was looking for cake recipes and only a few things came up when I searched for cake, and I know there are tons more cake recipes on this site. And the name of this recipe doesn’t match the exact name in the cook book. But, regarding the cookie, I just ate several raw as the oven heated–couldn’t stop eating them. It’d be helpful if the author explained why we should let the batter sit for 10 minutes? I skipped that step but may have been more likely to take it seriously if I understood the importance. I used coconut oil instead of the kinds suggested in the cook book because I’ve heard that canola oil is bad.

Theresa787

January 25, 2012 at 7:53 pm

Catherine, these are so delicious when taken straight from the freezer. It has a bon-bonish type feel to them (meaning you are eating something almost frozen with chocolatey taste and a sweet soft center inside). It’s not a cookie, it’s not a muffin, it’s a delicious frozen morsel of banana-ey, date-y, chocolate- y goodness. My almost 2-year old loves these, although she picks out the dark chocolate chips. I think next time, I ‘ll look for mini-dark chocolate chips instead. Thank you so much.

Samantha Y

January 5, 2012 at 9:20 pm

These are so yummy! I’ve made these twice so far and today’s combo of half walnuts half chocolate chips was so amazing! The tip about eating them frozen is spot on and dangerous for this momma still trying to loose baby weight! Thank you!

November 3, 2011 at 2:24 pm

lezlie

September 17, 2011 at 4:02 pm

Pretty yummie. I just made these and used dried papaya instead of dates, used applesauce instead of oil and put both nuts and choc chips… Kids (2 1/2) picked out choc pieces! So I will try it next time with cocoa instead

January 4, 2013 at 9:35 pm

devasma

May 3, 2011 at 9:12 am

I made these yesterday, they are awesome! I made half without chocolate chips so my 15 month old can eat them. He likes them ok, but didn’t eat an entire cookie. I, however, really like them – with or without chocolate chips. The next time I make them, I think I will sub applesauce for the oil, add some nuts and flax seeds for more of a breakfast cookie. I might add some cooked quinoa to up the protein content.

Dina

April 18, 2011 at 1:08 am

Jenny

February 25, 2011 at 11:21 pm

I made this today and they are delicious. I did modify the recipe because I, too, am not a fan of dates. I read some of the suggestions before making the cookies and added coconut and peanut butter like some of you have suggested. I put in the walnuts, raisins and chocolate chips. They were great, not too sweet! Thanks!

Meredith

February 4, 2011 at 12:57 am

I made these today w/ my daughters. My 5 yr. old & 3 yr. old enjoyed helping me measure ingredients and mashing up the bananas w/ a pastry cutter. Followed the recipe to a T and they came out great! Only thing is that my 1st batch came out a bit burnt on the bottom (did the parchment lined baking sheet & right temp). I even took them out 4-5 mins. early. My 2nd batch I cooked for only 15 mins. and they came out perfect!

Larissa

January 16, 2011 at 9:21 pm

I have made these quite a few times since the recipe was posted. They are delicious! I have a young cousin who has many food allergies, so when I made them for her, I left out the nuts. They were still yummy and she loved them- and her mom was happy to have a cookie recipe she can eat (there are very few “good” ones).

Sophie

December 20, 2010 at 9:04 am

Djinni

November 20, 2010 at 9:30 am

I made these this morning for my 2 year old and he LOVED them! I did make some changes to the recipe though. I left out the dates alltogether and used chopped cashews instead of chocolate. I also used a 1/4 cup of applesauce instead of oil. They were such a big hit I think I may need to keep these in the house 24/7(better than prepackaged snacks for sure)! Thank you!

Sarah

November 3, 2010 at 6:29 am

I made the original recipe (except with raisins instead of choc chips) and they were great. However, I wanted to try them without the fruit for a friend who can’t have that much sugar (natural or otherwise). So, I just left out the dates/raisins/choc chips and added in a big spoon of natural peanut butter. They were so good! Of course, they only had a little bit of sweetness, but it was enough and they had a great flavor. I think they’d be great with some chopped walnuts and/or unsweetened coconut too. My 19-month old actually wouldn’t eat the date/raisin version, but he gobbled up the ones without. Also, I think they taste best fresh from the oven so I recommend keeping the batter in the fridge (no eggs/milk to go bad so it should keep a few days) and baking just a few at a time as needed. Thanks for the great recipe!

October 5, 2010 at 6:20 pm

January

October 4, 2010 at 6:16 pm

Just made these cookies…. I only had over ripe bananas and old fashion oats. I added various nuts and dried fruit, and I had some butterscotch chips so I add those. it is kinda like a trail mix cookie.

Ainsley

October 2, 2010 at 5:24 pm

Loved these- by far easiest things to bake w a two year old, made baking more fun and less stressful since the cleanup was easy easy easy and no arguing over keeping egg-batter out of toddler’s mouth. Added sunflower seeds.

Taylor

October 1, 2010 at 5:53 am

Lori

September 29, 2010 at 4:27 pm

Just made these and they are looking pretty good for something that I created (I am a self proclaimed horrible cook) I have high hopes! Just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration I need to become a better cook (:

Bec

September 28, 2010 at 2:15 pm

Becky

September 28, 2010 at 3:55 am

I was really skeptical of these, but gave them a try yesterday, and was so surprised at how they came together once they were baked! Like a cross between a baked oatmeal, crispy oatmeal cookie, and banana bread. Super yummy! Thanks for the great school snack idea!

Emily

September 26, 2010 at 8:16 pm

This was a major hit with all family! My son kept asking for his treat. He even sat calmly with a napkin to make sure it wasn’t taken from him. And he nibbled at it so gently (unlike the normal smashing/cramming into the mouth routine). Thank you for a new fav!

Caryn

September 24, 2010 at 2:27 pm

February 4, 2014 at 11:35 pm

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Lindsay

September 23, 2010 at 3:03 pm

catherine

September 23, 2010 at 3:39 pm

The dates are key point in this recipe where they provide some body to the cookie as well as sweetness. You can try not using the dates but honestly you can’t even tell that there are dates in the cookies since they are chopped and combined with the batter. Let me know how it goes!

Ashley

December 14, 2010 at 1:00 am

I agree – we’re not fans of dates either but they are barely distinguishable in this awesome recipe. Also thought of substituting but the dates really make it … and the whole recipe makes dates taste yummy!! Good job on this one

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